Broken Arrow
by rhiannon.bancroft
Summary: Artemis WAS an assassin for the League of Shadows,w/ a current villain for a dad,sister,& ex-boyfriend and an ex-con for a mom. Up until they told her to kill Wally West. Too bad for some unexplainable reason she just can't make herself do it.SPITFIRE FTW
1. Head or Your Heart

**First Fanfic :) It starts out with a little CameronxArtemis BUT I PROMISE IN THE NEXT 1-2 CHAPTERS IT'LL BE SPITFIRE 100% kk? kk :)**

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><p>"Choose one, baby, your head or your heart,<br>Is this the game that I have played from start?"

-Mat Kearney | Head or Your Heart

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><p>"Hey babe."<p>

Artemis Crock's wet blond ponytail whirled around, whipping her opposite shoulder as it sliced through the air. She could have sworn whoever it was had been right behind her, their impossibly warm breath washing over her neck. Nothing was behind her except for Gotham City's finest dumpsters, their grubby green tackled in bumper stickers, wrappers, and band logos. Her gray eyes cut into the heavy rain and shadows behind her in the alley outside of her apartment before a familiar face showed itself, stepping forward into the dim light of the dying streetlamp above her. In that half a second before the figure let itself be known, a million things raced through her- coursing through her veins, kick-starting her heart, winding through her mind like a dog chasing its tail. She felt her heart skip a beat or two in anticipation. She felt an odd sensation glow deep inside her, sparking like a lit match and barely burning, but definitely there. She had no idea what it was; she was sure she'd never felt it before. It crept through her like fear would, slowly inching up her insides, spreading its odd warmth, and threatening to send shivers cascading down her spine. She decided it felt like a cross between hope and anxiety. Then the face from the shadows became enveloped in the lamp light and the feeling died in an instant, almost as if it had fallen right out of her. It was only Cameron.

She couldn't help the disappointment that pulled at her mouth and sent her eyes glaring. The sudden absence of that..._feeling_ had left her, well, _empty_. She felt as cold as the damp red bricks of the wall she was leaning against- like the shadows were seeping into the feeling's rightful place inside her and stealing its warmth. Why? She didn't know. What she did know was that for some unexplainable reason she'd expected someone else when she turned around. She had no idea who. It was a stupid thought really. No one else called her 'babe' except for the kind-of-sort-of-boyfriend standing in front of her.

Cameron Mahkent looked like hell on ice. His lip was busted and he had blood frozen in a dribble on his sharp chin. His skin was barely tinted a sickly sort of bluish purple- the color of a corpse, her mind registered every time she saw him- and it was stippled a darker, more gruesome purple around his right eye. His eyes were as bright and blue as ever, though, as they looked at her. _Through_ her, was more like it. Artemis didn't mind though. At least someone was even looking at her at all, which was something she could rarely revel in. His wintry hair was soaking and yet matted with dirt and blood and she could have sworn there was a patch of it missing. She walked over to him with a huff escaping her numb lips and stopped right in front of him, the tips of her boots barely an inch away from his black converse against the wet pavement. She stood there for a moment, sizing him up with her arms crossed, that same angry glare etched into her stormy eyes, the color of the sky above. Cameron looked at her nervously before she rolled her eyes and stood up on her tiptoes, her fingers threading in his hair. She ruffled it up a bit, picking out a large clump of frozen mud that had been bothering her. She felt Cameron's lanky body relax beneath her hands and she pulled back, still glaring at him. He caught her frail gloved hands in his freezing ones and was full-out grinning at her now. She rolled her eyes again but couldn't find it within herself to suppress her responding smile.

"What," she demanded, still slightly angry at him for getting himself beat up, "happened to _you_?"

Cameron laughed shakily in response, squeezing her hands. She wanted to pull out of his grasp from fear of frostbite, but thought better of it for his sake and let it be. She could live without her fingers. Well, her father would kill her if she couldn't use her bow or punch the life out of someone. On second thought, maybe frostbite wouldn't be such a bad idea…

"Screwed up like I always do and one of Dad's thugs thought I needed to learn a little something or another. Dad agreed." Cameron's eyes turned as cold as his skin and Artemis fought her strong urges to look away.

"You could've fought back idiot," she muttered, a hint of concern lacing her voice, tugging of her glove by the tips and tracing her fingertips lightly over the bruise blooming around his eye.

"You know that's not true," he whispered back, his icy eyes falling to their feet.

It was true- she _did_ know better. If Cameron ever stood up against one of his father's friends, his dad would be embarrassed and probably disown Cameron. The kid couldn't do anything right even if he tried- either he took the beating and looked like a poor excuse for a man in his father's eyes, or stood up for himself and fought back, only to deprive his father of one of his friends and then be shunned. He never had a chance to begin with.

Artemis could feel the anger rolling off in waves off of Cameron and decided to change the subject.

"So why did you call me here? What's so important that I'm standing in the freezing cold Gotham rain, practically taking a shower?"

Cameron straightened up immediately, a cat-like smirk tugging at his sharp features.

"So what you're saying is that I'm showering with you right now?"

Artemis scoffed and smacked him on the shoulder before turning away from him and crossing her arms again, huffing in irritation. She was still smiling broadly though, not even bothering to hide it any more.

"Okay, okay," he laughed, "I'm sorry. I called you out here because _we_," he grabbed her shoulders and spun her around so she was facing him, touching his forehead to hers, "have been assigned a mission by your dad."

Artemis instantly felt her mildly good mood die out like a blown-out flame. She usually was excited to take on a Target. It meant her dad was actually going to treat her like an adult for once and let her make her own choices and call all her own shots. But tonight- no, tonight was somehow different. She didn't know what it was. Maybe all this damn rain that haunted Gotham non-stop had managed to wash away all her sanity, or maybe her conscience was finally catching up to her after all these years of being a cold-blooded killer. It was unnerving though. She'd never felt like this when it came to an Assignment- like her stomach was seizing with nerve-wracking, heart-stopping, mind-spinning butterflies the size of soccer balls. Get it together Artemis, she scolded herself internally. You're not ruining all you've worked for after all these years because of a stomach ache.

"Really?" she asked, fake-curiously, slapping a small grin on her face. Cameron didn't seem to notice. "What's the story?"

Cameron made a 'tsk' noise with his tongue and shrugged his shoulders sheepishly.

"No clue Kitten. Daddio wouldn't let loose any juicy details about our little mission. He just said, and I quote, 'Just come to the subway tonight at nine sharp and everything will be explained. Don't be late. You two won't get another chance.' "

"Huh," was all she could say, her eyes glossing over as her brain whirled in thought. Too bad she couldn't make out any of the thoughts rushing in and out of her mind as they zoomed past at the speed of light. She had a horrible feeling about this. Something about this wasn't right. Her heart kept doing these little flips and spasms and her airways suddenly felt like they were being super-glued together then reinforced with a needle and thread. She tried to swallow but found she couldn't and everything around her began to feel cramped and distorted, Cameron's grip on her hand suddenly like scissors wrapped around her fingers. She jerked back in surprise, pulling her hand away, and Cameron starred at her quizzically and like she was crazy, one of his eyebrows arched at her.

"You alright there babe?" he asked gingerly, afraid of her answer. Artemis blinked up at him dumbly for a moment before shaking her head. Everything was fine now. A huge wave of air rolled through her and she put on a smile, rubbing her neck in embarrassment. Yep. Her conscience was definitely screwing with her now. Well then.

"Yeah, just had…" she wracked her brain for anything mildly plausible to say. "…the hiccups." _Really_? That was the smartest thing in her head. _Oh my god I need help_…

"Oh. Okay." Aaaaaand he didn't notice. Of course. Always the observant one, that Cameron. Sometimes she wondered whether he was in the right line of work. She never voiced her concerns though. That would destroy him. To know that his best friend since birth and now kind-of-sort-of (they hadn't really talked about it. He'd just sort of kissed her the other night and assumed they were together) girlfriend thought of him just like his father and everyone else he hated did? That would destroy him.

"What time is it?" she asked out of nowhere, suddenly very aware of the seconds as they passed by, ending without meaning and shattering into oblivion. It only took that one second that actually did matter to change everything. She was about to find that out the hard way.

"It's…" Cameron trailed off, lazily picking up a pale bluish arm to check his chunky black watch, "eight forty-seven."

"Eight forty-seven? Nononononononono!" she hissed frantically, grabbing Cameron's wrist and tugging him harshly behind her as she started sprinting off to the subway station. It was at least a fifteen minute jog, and if she knew her father-which she was pretty sure she did-he would kill them if they were a measly half-a-minute late. Maybe even literally too…

After about two miles she was starting to get tired. What she'd give for some super speed right now…

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><p>They skidded to a halt at the foot of the stairs, bent in half and clutching their knees, desperately trying to gather their air and compose themselves before meeting with the League of Shadows. They already worked hard enough to try and prove that they were not indeed children and were almost equals with their superiors-they didn't need to go in their hacking up their lungs after a run. Yeah, that would definitely <em>not<em> look good on their part.

Once they had their breathing down, they straightened themselves out and began to descend the stairs down into the subway tunnel. As soon as the toe of Artemis' boot touched that first step down, a shot of cold fear shot through her like she'd been shot by lightning. Her body became ridged and paralyzed and she began to teeter towards the ground. She would have stumbled down the stairs in a heap too if Cameron hadn't caught her. She came to life at his touch and grasped his icy airs for dear life. He laughed lightly at her, his bursts of breath ruffling her golden hair.

"S'alright, I got you."

"I'm fine," she huffed for the hundredth time that night before pulling herself out of his arms and standing up arrogantly, yanking at her collar before standoffishly stomping down the rest of the steps. Underneath all her irrational (yes, she knew she was being irrational, thank you very much) anger that fear still resided, hiding in her stomach, all coiled up and twisting her nerves with it. What scared her more was that spark from earlier, that worrisomely comforting warmth of hope and anxiety mashed together, was buried beneath it all. It had short through her and brought the fear dragging behind it. No. This was all wrong. Something was terribly wrong. But _what was it_? _It's just another Assignment, that's all. Just another Assignment._ She kept trying to reassure herself, repeating the words in her head over and over again.

"Are you sure you're okay Kitten? You seem a little… I don't know, _off_ I guess," Cameron said, suddenly right behind her, his arm snaking around her waist. She jumped in surprise, the wrong kind of shivers rolling grotesquely down her spine and cascading throughout her whole body right down to the fingertips before stopping. Even Cameron felt wrong. What was _with_ her? This was getting ridiculous. Just turn it off Artemis, she thought to herself, squeezing her eyes shut briefly in concentration. Turn off all the pain and the emotions. It's easy. You've done it before. That's what got you into this whole mess, remember? Just turn it off…

And she did it. She opened her eyes and the feelings were gone. She'd deceived herself again into thinking that it was just as simple as 'turning it off'. Too bad she knew better. She'd let it catch up to her later. Right now she had a job to do.

"Yes Cameron, I'm fine," she said a bit harshly, turning in his arms to face him with a wicked smirk on her lips. "Just a bit nervous to be in front of _them_ again," she lied. He nodded in understanding. He knew who she spoke of. The League of Shadows.

"Let's just get it over babe. The sooner, the better," he said, speaking of meeting with the League again. _The sooner, the better_. The words echoed sinisterly in her mind. To him it meant the League, but to her those words described their Assignment. The sooner it's over, the sooner I get to crawl into my bed and put this awful night behind me, and hopefully bury that damn conscience down with it, she wagered to herself.

Artemis nodded in agreement. Cameron offered a hand to Artemis and she for once gladly took it, lacing her fingers in between his cold ones. It felt…odd. But at least she could tell herself she wasn't alone. _He's at blame for what's about to happen to_, a dark voice whispered inside of her. Artemis blinked in surprise and almost stopped dead in her tracks. Where did that come from? She had no earthly idea. Well, she didn't exactly have an _un_earthly idea either, but that's beside the point.

Within a minute or so they rounded a corner and came face to face with the League of Shadows. Black Spider, Sensei, Professor Oja, Hook, Ra's al Ghul, and her own father-not actually a member anymore, although he kept ties- stood before them. The only member missing was, of course, Cheshire-which she was totally fine with, or so she told herself.

"Nice of you to join us," Black Spider sneered. Artemis wanted so badly to go over and deck him right in his ugly purple (purple? Seriously?) face, but pulled it together in front of her father. Cameron was also there to hold her back, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Well, isn't that just touching?" Professor Oja drawled sarcastically, his mask focused on their intertwined hands. Artemis sent a silent but deadly glare his way.

"Enough," he father said calmly but firmly. Everyone fell quiet. Er, even quieter than they were before, which meant dead silence.

"Now, you both know why you're here," he said, turning now to the two teenagers, his brown eyes dark behind his mask.

It wasn't a question, but the two nodded anyways. One of the villains snickered behind them. Artemis forced herself to ignore their immaturity. If she wanted this life she had to be better than them all to get it. The weird thing was that tonight she had begun to doubt whether she in fact _did_ want this life.

"Good. So you are both aware that we have assigned you a target. You are to work together to bring the target down and finish it all off. Not a drop of blood is to remain at the scene and you two are to act like our namesake- like shadows-and slip in and out of their and back into the night. This could quite possibly be the most important mission of either of your entire lives, so do not let it go to waste. It should be held at all times with the utmost importance; no distractions will be tolerated," he sent the two of them a pointed, knowing look and Artemis bowed her head to hide her blush. This was her own father. What kind of girl did he think she was? "More important to you, I suppose, is the fact that this is basically an initiation mission into the League of Shadows. Complete this task successfully and you will be able to call yourselves members."

Artemis' heart stopped cold. Her body went numb and she could tell her tan skin had gone white as a sheet. The doubts were stronger than ever now, surging through her thoughts like tidal waves and knocking everything else out of range. Would she be happy after tonight? Would this dread ever really leave her? Why did everything feel so wrong when she should feel so elated? And lastly the big question: was this really what she wanted? After all these long, hard, isolated, lonely years of depending solely on herself and trying to bring her family back together by earning that position in the League of Shadows, was this what she, Artemis Crock, really, truly, _honestly_, wanted?

She snuck a peek sideways at her kind-of-sort-of boyfriend. He looked happier than she'd ever seen him in her entire life. She was shocked. Cameron was actually _happy_. Sure he could be smug or content, or even just cheeky, but she had never seen him truly, blissfully, happy. It made her feel a little better-gave her that little boost of confidence she needed. If Cameron was happy with this, she could be too. So she pushed away all the 'wrong' feelings to the back of her mind and shoved them in a box labeled 'later' that was already almost overflowing. It was what she was best at- pushing the hard stuff away to deal with later, only later never came. She knew one day it would all overflow and came back around to bite her, but she didn't care. As long as that moment wasn't now, she was okay with it.

"Who's the target?" she spoke up, surprised at how strong and cool her voice sounded in comparison to how she felt. She hoped impressed hi- them. She hoped it impressed _them_. She could care less about her father.

"Tigress and Icicle Jr., before the League diverges to you secret intell, you must swear on your very own lives that you will not fail. If you do, the outcome will be bleak for the two of you," her father said, looking specifically at Artemis grimly. So he though she couldn't handle it huh? After all these years of not caring now he was suddenly making bets? _No._ An angry fire seized hold of her and her eyes glowered menacingly at him.

"We swear to take up your Assignment and your secrets," she hissed the word, "and that if we fail our may our League initiations be revoked and our lives paid as debt," she spoke for the two of them, catching Cameron's look of bewilderment at her out of the corner of her eye.

"Very well then." Was it just her, or was the vicious Sportsmaster's voice now quieter? His eyes seemed colder and dimmer than before too. Maybe it was the crappy subway lighting… Artemis wasn't stupid though. She knew better. "Your target is one of the Justice League's little sidekick pets." All the villains present snickered at the term. Sidekicks were a joke to the Underbelly of Gotham. They were like a prequel no one wanted to deal with- let them get on with the real thing.

Artemis became overwhelmed. That box she'd labeled 'later' was bursting at the seams, unleashing Pandora's Box onto her silently and swiftly like an assassin all its own. That mere spark from before of intense warmth and mixed feelings had exploded into a flame now, burning through her like never before. Dread was pumping straight to her heart, making it beat like her life depended on it. Anxiety was frying her nerves and making her sick, those soccer-ball-butterflies now one giant dinosaur butterfly whose wings were scraping her insides. She's never felt this bad before. What was worse was the fact that she had no idea what she was feeling. It felt like a mix of everything: fear, anxiety, stress, nervousness, panic, dread, adrenaline. All of the bad things you could possibly feel had managed to culminate into one gigantic, pulsating, nearly lethal poison that contaminated her veins and went straight to her head. She kept feeling this presence on the other side of her where Cameron wasn't. It felt remarkably similar to déjà vu, but she just knew it wasn't. She'd never felt anything close to this before. It was warm like a fever and made the hair on her arms stand up. It was pressed up tight against her and made her feel impossibly claustrophobic, which was strange since she wasn't claustrophobic at all. All the feelings weighing down on her and pressuring her entire body made her want to burst into tears. Oh my god I'm losing it. I'm done for. This is what it feels like to be crazy.

Somehow she knew that was a lie though. As dramatic as it sounds, all this just gave her an unbelievable sense of impending, inevitable, disastrous doom. That alarm of 'something's wrong' was buzzing through her like a live wire now. She was on her toes as she waited for her father's downcast and for once slightly unconfident response. Who was this person who was bringing all the worst out in her? Why did she suddenly care so much?

"He goes by the alias 'Kid Flash', member B03, and is both Flash's nephew and sidekick. His real name, however, is Wally West, and you are to eliminate him upon first sight, no questions asked."

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><p><strong>AN: sooooo... how was it? Not too awful right? Right? *crosses fingers* Reviews would be lovely :) And yes, I just said/typed lovely ;)**


	2. Clocks

**Here we go again ;) Thanks to all you guys for the faves, alerts, and of course the always amazing and welcome reviews :) This is sort of a replay of episode 5-Schooled. I'm mildly content with this, but I'm anxious to write the next chapters :D** **R&R?**

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><p>"Come out upon my seas,<p>

Curse missed opportunities.

Am I a part of the cure,

Or am I part of the disease?"

-Coldplay | Clocks

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><p>Artemis had never felt so empty. The harsh wind of the countryside seemed to blow right through her as it whipped her now pale hair around in the icy breeze. The gray storm clouds above them rumbled and seemed to grow larger and darker with every minute that rolled by. An hour ago she'd felt like her world was crashing down at her feet, sucking her in like a black hole. That name… Wally West- it had snapped her in half. She had come unraveled, just like that, at the drop of a name. She didn't even know the kid! She'd never heard of him before, much less seen him in a crowd. But now… Now that was all gone. She felt brittle and numb now. Even that odd little spark had died out, leaving her aching for its warmth amidst all this vacant cold. If she ever saw this kid… Ugh the things she would do to him! She hated feeling like this. <em>She. Didn't. Even. Know. Him!<em>

Artemis' lean fingers clenched the photo in her hand tighter, crinkling it as it folded in on itself. The sound it made as it crumpled drew her attention out from her thoughts and back into the real world. She looked down at her leather-gloved hand and couldn't resist the urge to unfold it and take another look at her Target. An absentminded smile twitched at the corners of her mouth as she looked at him, this Wally West character. He was running in the photo, his super-speed blurring his body. His face was somehow visible throughout all the confusion though; the camera man had caught him at the perfect second. His impossibly red hair glinted like glass in the sunlight streaming down on him, sticking out at odd angles in the front and, well…_everywhere_. She would never admit to herself, but some part of her in the back of her mind thought it was oddly…cute. His red goggles masked his eyes, but there was definitely a hint of a smirk at the corner of his mouth, and that mixed with his feint freckles made him seem innocent and childish- not like someone who deserved to die. The rest of him was a yellow/red blur.

"I think I see 'em babe."

Artemis' head shot up. Cameron was sitting beside her in the corn field, peering over the tops of corn stalks for a second before ducking back down. Stalks of corn were getting caught in his hair. She herself had an arrow already poised in her bow and was pulling it back, prepared to do just what her father told her: eliminate him upon first sight, no questions asked. She used the tip of her arrow to divide the corn stalks in front of her, peering through the slightest of breaks between the crops out onto the open road. She could hear the harsh roars of motorbikes rumbling in the distance a mile or two away, accompanied by the sound of cars. This was it. It was all about to go down. Her mouth was suddenly dry as she tried to swallow and suddenly her head was swimming. _Just do it_, she told herself harshly, shaking away all her concerns as they tried to voice themselves.

And then suddenly there they were, right in front of her.

Artemis went into hyper-drive. Seconds suddenly dragged into hours and the rest of the world burned out. The tip of a wheel poked out into the little crack she'd made through the stalks, followed in suit by the rest of the bike. This was wrong though. It wasn't him. For starters, whoever it was had green hands (must be a Martian, she reasoned with herself), an incredibly feminine body, and red hair that was too long to be the kid from the photograph. The wrong shade, too. Hers was more auburn, while this Wally West kid's hair was all red, one-hundred percent, like a scarlet crayon. Suddenly there was another person next to the strange green-skinned girl. Artemis' hand reared back a fraction of an inch, prepared to send her arrow flying right into the kid. Then seemingly out of nowhere someone else came into the picture. Artemis just knew- she _knew_ this was him; her instinct was screaming at her. Her hands began to tremble and all her predatory sense died out. This was him. This was Kid Flash, member B03, nephew and sidekick to Flash. This was Wally West.

And then they were gone. Just like that they'd moved on past the two teens in the cornfield. She'd lost her chance.

"Artemis!" Cameron hissed, just as surprised as she was. She'd never failed before. Not once. There wasn't room for failure in her plan to bring her family together. They'd failed her more than enough times. She couldn't afford it.

"Their faces were covered by their helmets," she hissed, trying to reason her actions (more to herself than to Cameron), "and there were three of them. It could have been any of them! If we'd taken out the wrong one, who knows what could have happened! We could have started an all-out _war_!"

Cameron looked taken aback as he pondered her reasoning. He looked at her, right in the eyes, his deep glacial blue searing right into her stormy gray, before seeming to let it slide and just trust her. It surprised her.

He nodded at her and she nodded back before he stood up and offered his hand. She took it and let him help her up before they began to stealthily sprint through the corn field, dodging stalks and trying to be as least noticeable as possible, the plants barely swaying in response like a breeze had touched them.

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><p>"<em><strong>We've sent Iro as a distraction. It should be easy enough for you two to get the job done in all the confusion."<strong>_

_Well_, Artemis thought through the memory of her father's explanation of their mission, _looks like it worked._ Currently Artemis was standing outside of Gotham Academy Private High School, staring up at the building she'd admired from her shabby apartment in the city many times, wondering what it was like to be one of _those_ kids. Now as she looked up at it tonight it didn't seem so enchanting and promising. It looked like a reflection of just how bleak and hopeless she felt. In a way, it made her like the building even more.

She was crouched down and hiding beside the school's green garbage bins (seriously, what was up with her and these stupid oversized trash cans? She really needed to change that…) all alone, having sent Cameron to scan the perimeter. They'd tailed the sidekicks and those stupid monkeys right out of Gotham to this ancient brick building, where the sounds of heavy fighting going on inside and crazy yells of rage reverberated right out of the walls. _**He's**__ in there. _Although she hated to admit it, the thought made her heart pound. In a matter of minutes, a member of a division of the Justice League will be dead. He won't wake up tomorrow with a god-awful headache, or flinch in pain every time he bends the wrong way due to the annoying bandage covering his lower torso, or tell mutter things like 'I hate my life' because he sprained his ankle and can't run for another week and a half. No, after tonight he won't wake up tomorrow morning at all. After tonight a kid who's only fifteen-her own age-will never get another birthday or Christmas or Halloween or prom. He'll never get to graduate high school, much less even step foot in that college with the state of the art science department he's had his eye on since he was twelve (he looks like a nerd, she had thought to herself earlier when first given that picture, a small smile turning up the corner of her mouth a fraction). He's never going to be a member of the Justice League one day. _But you'll get to be in the League of Shadows. How's that fair, huh?_ a voice chided inside her. She couldn't help but think about what it would be like if their roles were reversed. They're the same age; only kids (even though under any other circumstance she'd argue otherwise). What if one second she was here, and the next she just…wasn't. She'd never come home and say goodbye to her mom. Oh god. Her mother would be distraught. Artemis was all she had left. What if this Wally kid meant everything to his family, too? What if his mom had some fatal disease and the only thing that brightened her life at the hospital was when he dropped by to see her? How was it fair that she could ruin that poor innocent lady's life too? She wasn't even the Target! Or what if this kid was some genius and in the future he develops the cure for cancer? By the end of the night she could deprive the entire world of the cure for cancer.

Thousands of these 'what if's' ran through her mind, in and out so fast it was hard to register them. She knew most of them were pretty outlandish. After all, what if he was a horrible person? What if he went around kicking puppies and pulling on little girl's braids and calling girls fat? Okay, so those weren't absolutely the most horrible things ever, but still_. If he was a horrible person, though, he wouldn't be in the Justice League_, she reminded herself. Well, whatever. The point was, this kid-this…this _stranger_ that she'd never even said a word to, was pulling loose all her carefully tied, reinforced strings without even knowing he was doing it, making her come undone. _He doesn't even know I exist. I'm just a shadow to him._ And with that terrifying thought, she ran up to the school at a dead sprint and began to climb up the walls of Gotham Academy, pulling out an arrow right before she jumped and digging it as hard as she could into the crack in the bricks, using it to pull herself up. She pulled it out and then continued to dig it into the wall, climbing towards the window of the gymnasium.

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><p>An earth-shattering boom shook the whole gym as Artemis slipped in through the window Cameron had opened for her; he'd waited for her outside the window after finishing his perimeter check. Now they were ducked down behind the bleachers, taking in the scene in front of them with wide eyes. So this was the infamous 'Team' they'd been force-fed information about the entire night. They didn't really look like much to be quite honest. A tall, rather burly dark-haired boy with piercing blue eyes lay indented into the gym floor, letting out a murderous cry of rage, while the target and whoever the other three members were were M.I.A. Iro sat a few feet away from the two of them, chatting the dark-haired kid up. Once the evil inventor had even turned around and winked at the two teens, shocking them momentarily. Damn. They thought they'd been <em>so <em>sneaky.

Artemis slowly lifted her bow up off her shoulders and snuck an arrow out of her quiver, cautiously placing it in the strings. _No sudden movements. Don't want to get caught now_. It was time. She just had to get this over with and then get on with her life. In five minutes she could be leaving this stupid school and never have to deal with this bunch of bratty, holy-than-thou, Justice Misfits again. _In five minutes he could be dead._

And then there was Macho Kid, squaring off with the robo-man, stealing her attention. He _really_ wasn't doing too well. For every one iron punch the dark-haired kid got in, his seven-foot tall counterpart got in four, usually to the kid's face. Artemis was surprised his teeth were still intact.

And that was the precise moment the universe decided it was tired of her usual antics and royally screwed her over. Not for the last time either. At that very moment, Wally West decided to enter her life, even after she'd internally prayed she'd never ever have the misfortune of meeting him. And just like she'd secretly known all along would happen, that little spark roared inside her as soon as she caught a glimpse of him.

At first she couldn't see him; all he was was a yellow blur in her vision. As soon as he stopped running, though, and she could see his shape outlined by the moonlight streaming in through the gym windows, her breath caught in her throat. There were no excuses now. She threw away her thoughts and emotions and lifted up her bow, arrow poised and ready to fly.

"Just get it over with already," she growled to herself, under her breath. She would _not_ fail. She just…couldn't. There was too much at risk.

But then he was off, running to save his friend a second before robo-man could pummel him to death, his red hair looking like a flame flying through the air. Her eyes followed him all the way across the gym, locked onto him and nothing else like she couldn't help herself. Suddenly there was a third person in the group, a rather short, raven-haired boy that she knew she'd seen somewhere before. Robin, Boy Wonder. Well, at least she knew someone out of the bunch…

"Artemis, what are you doing?"

A harsh jab to the ribs and a hissing in her ear brought her back to reality. It always seemed like that was what Cameron was for her, a paperweight to keep her in the real world. Her head slowly turned to him, beginning to comprehend what he was saying.

"I…"

For once in her life Artemis Crock didn't have anything clever to say.

"Oh for god's sake…" Cameron grumbled irritably, taking advantage of her jumbled state and ripping her bow right out of her hands, sending the arrow it held falling down to the ground through the crack in the bleachers. He nimbly plucked another arrow out of the quiver off her back and put it in place, rearing back his hand and about to let go when the gears in Artemis' mind finally began to turn again.

"No!" she screamed in a panicked whisper, making to dive for the arrow as swiftly as she could. Cameron was a lousy shot and could wind up shooting Iro for all they knew.

"_What is your problem_?" he growled in response, jerking away before she could grab hold of the arrow.

"You… you can't," she said defiantly, still trying to reach for that arrow, "I won't let you!"

"What has gotten into you?" he asked incredulously, his skin starting to turn a more clear blue and beginning to take on a sheen. No. No no no no no no no!

Artemis lost it. She full out attacked him from their hidden vantage point, dropping to the floor and swinging out a kick to his feet with her long leg. He fell to the floor quite noisily. If the League saw them now… No matter. They were the least of her worries right now. With all of the chaos happening around them, none of the Justice Misfits even noticed.

Cameron sat up from his sprawled position on the floor and looked up at her like he never had before. It sent the wrong kind of shivers down her spine, completely opposite from the kind the Strange Feeling (as she'd come to ingeniously name it) did. The feeling that went down her spine was cold like his eyes. The ice had started to build up around his skin, blocking him off from the world. His defenses were up.

"You are NOT going to ruin this for me," he snarled, throwing down her bow and pouncing on her in an attempt to pin her down. She caught on quickly and drew her feet up so they pushed against his thighs and the two went rolling across the bleacher. He did succeed in pinning her down- for half a second. He arrogantly thought that one hand was enough to keep both of her wrists pinned down, and straddled her, his other hand pushing on her collar bone. What he exactly intended to do in this position was lost to her. He couldn't exactly knock her out like this, nor do anything for that matter. So she did what she had to. She slipped her hands from his grasp so easily it was comical before somersaulting back across the bleacher to pick of her bow. He went diving after her, only to end up a foot or so short. She whirled around and found the tip of her arrow at the base of his neck.

"So this is it then," he spat, his eyes dark and cold like the bottom of the arctic ocean, "you're going to choose a sidekick over me, your best friend who you've known since the day you were born?"

Artemis' resolve almost capsized. Almost- but not quite. A blur of red caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. She allowed herself a brief peek, expecting it to be Kid Whatever speeding around, only to find a red tornado bustling through the gym and dying out after sending the Misfits flying through the air to all corners of the gym. And now the android was towering over _her_ Target, his metal and scary muscular-looking back facing her. For a brief second a look crossed the Target's face, a look of pure panic and weakness and almost defeat. And that was the moment everything clicked into place for Artemis Crock.

She knew then that this wasn't the life she wanted, at least not anymore. She may have wanted it once, but even then it was for all the wrong reasons, and she didn't want those same things anymore. The only proof she needed was right in front of her. Even as the android was about to finish the Target off for her-let her leave this awful place with clean hands-something inside her still couldn't let this stranger die.

Screw the League. This was her life and for once she acknowledged that and wanted to make her own decisions. The image of her family Christmas card that year before her mother became crippled and went to jail, when her father and sister still lived in the same roof as Artemis and her mother and everything was good for once, flashed in her head briefly. _No_, she thought strongly. A part of her did feel sorry for giving up on them, but if _a fifteen year old girl_ was the only one trying to bring them all together, was it worth saving? Which was more valuable, the impossible idea of a perfect family, or the life of a living, breathing person, hero or not?

She turned back to Cameron, her eyes sorry for once, and his anger melted in an instant.

"I'm sorry," she whispered truthfully as the sound of floorboards splintering into millions of pieces and metal fists flying roared in her ears. She bent down swiftly and kissed Cameron on his icy skin before leaning back, catching the look of surprise on his face as his icy exterior (literally) melted away back to, well…_Cameron_. Then she punched him right in his weakest point as hard as she dared, her fist crunching into his jaw. His body went slack and he fell to the floor, unconscious.

She whirled around in time to see her Target running at the speed of sound towards the metal man. He didn't even half to think or process or whatever androids do to know how to respond to Kid Whatever's actions. Suddenly an ear-splitting screech filled the air and everyone, even Iro, had their heads ducked down, clutching their ears. The Target went flying backwards and slumped over in half, losing in the battle to recompose himself. Then his two other teammates were attacking the thing and being stupid. She supposed that if she were in their position she'd be trying anything she could as well. You can't ever let panic overcome you though. If there was one thing her years under her father's wing had taught her, it was that a panicked warrior is a dead warrior.

And then that idiot Target of hers was running at the thing again. _He really isn't that bright, is he? So much for a cure for cancer…_ The android picked him up like he was a Barbie doll and hugged him close in a death grip, accessing his Superman capabilities and crushing him to death. _Oh no you don't. Not today. _For the last time that night, Artemis' hand reared back, her fingers clutching her arrow steadily and surely, and she let go.

Her predatory senses kicked in and time seemed to slow again. The arrow made its way to the center of the back of Kid Whatever's head and for a split second she began to doubt herself, concerns gnawing on her nerves. What if she wound up killing him after all? After that big scene she'd had with Cameron, her _best friend_, she didn't know if she could forgive herself if it all turned out to not be worth it. Luckily, just like she'd hoped he world, the android dropped the Target to the floor and the arrow slid right through him. She reached back behind her, fumbling around for another arrow, only to come up short. _Damn it Cameron_! Their little brawl had sent her arrows flying underneath the bleachers.

The looked up to find Iro looking at her with disapproval. To him it looked like she'd simply just had bad aim and missed her Target. And she was going to keep it that way.

Her body went rigid as she pondered what to do next. She gave him a brief nod before picking up Cameron and slinging him over her shoulders (My _god_ the boy was heavy!) and slipping out the window and into the night like she was never there at all, just like a shadow. _Not anymore_, she thought bitterly to herself as she dropped to the ground, her feet barely making a sound. _I am a shadow no more._

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><p><strong>So yeah. There you go :) Reviews would be AMAZING. just sayin... ;) Oh, and I'm aware that the chapter title makes no sense. In case you haven't noticed, they're just the names of the songs at the beginning. Yeah, I know I'm oh so creative. So creative in fact that I can't use decent chapter titles ;)<strong>


	3. Only Four Seasons

**Hola! whew after this I get to start the fun stuff! yay! and this is the end of CameronXArtemis. *sniffle***

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><p>"We've been at this party a little too long- ain't putting it down, honey, don't get me wrong.<p>

I just think it's time to be moving towards the door

Because there's only four seasons, and I'm looking for something more.

So let's pack our bags, get out of this town, head up the coast where the wind knocks you down- not the people you know or the people that you thought you knew.

There's only four seasons, and I guess we'll be leaving soon."

-Joe Purdy | Only Four Seasons

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><p>"Mom, I just… I just gotta get away for a little while, okay?"<p>

Artemis sighed as she shoved her final possession in her black duffle bag. She zipped the bag up and stepped back, shoving the sleeves of her shirt up to her elbows before resting her hands on her hips and looking at the bag with satisfaction. It was sad really-how little she owned. It was a small bag and even after she was done packing and her room was bare there was still room left for more.

The blonde turned around to face her mother like she knew she would have to do sooner or later. _The sooner, the better_. She'd been repeating Cameron's words over and over in her head ever since last night and found that they applied to a lot of things in her life, like now for instance.

"I don't understand," he mother frowned, threatening to crush Artemis' heart. She knew her mother was thinking the worst- that she was going to run away and leave her just like Jade had.

"Mom, I have never been, am not, and hopefully never be my sister. I promise I'm coming back," she said seriously yet softly, crossing the room and holding out her pinky to her mother like she hadn't done since she was seven. Her mother smiled grimly at the gesture and took it, wrapping her own little finger around her daughter's. "I just need some fresh, not-Gotham air for a few days at most."

Artemis smiled quickly at mother before turning back around on her heel and walking over to her bed, picking up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder, the sudden weight an unbelievable relief. She walked back over to her mom and bent down to wrap her arms lightly around the frail woman.

"Bye," she whispered simply into her mother's ear, squeezing her eyes shut and wrapping her arms a little tighter around Paula Crock, taking one last breath of her laundry detergent and Gotham smog scent. It was strangely the most comforting thing in the world at that moment.

"Don't get yourself into any trouble," her mother chided softly, making Artemis laugh.

"I'm not looking for it this time Mom."

"Just because you aren't looking for something doesn't mean it isn't looking for you."

Artemis' eyes fluttered open and she let go of her mother, making her way to the front door. She stopped in the doorway of her room though, her hand resting on the frame and seeming to keep her in place.

"I'm a big girl now, Mom. I think I can handle whatever monsters are waiting for me in unlit closets and under crowded beds."

She could hear her mom's said smile in her voice.

"I know Artemis. I know you are. Just…just be safe, okay?"

"I promised, didn't I?"

And then her boots were pattering against their apartment's scuffed up wood floors and she was out the front door, closing it behind her and taking a big breath of the Gotham air she'd be missing for the next few days. She didn't know her exact reasons for leaving to be honest, or where she even intended on going. She just felt like she had to leave. All the familiarity of her apartment and her school and the streets she'd walked on forever seemed to have vanished, and now everything seemed new and she didn't quite like how it all looked now.

She skipped down the steps of her apartment complex, her boots sliding over the edges every now and then from the thin veil of ice. She shoved her hands deep in the pockets of her jacket once she reached the bottom, almost like she was trying to ground herself in her decision. It was really cold tonight in the city, uncharacteristically cold for early August. She stopped herself after a couple steps when she noticed she could see her breath in the air, opaque white puffs against the dying daylight. It couldn't be that cold in August, which means…

She slowly turned on her heel, her boot grinding into the pavement. And sure enough, he was there, just like he always was.

"Hey," Cameron said, lifting his gaze from his feet. Part of her was glad to see him leaning against the grubby red brick of her apartment building; it was a relief to see him, to talk to him, to hear him say anything to her at all. It meant there were still at least friendly, if not best friends after what had happened the other night. In the weak streetlight she could see the royal purple and deep red stippling of a bruise forming along his jaw.

"Hey," she breathed back, caught off guard. She didn't think he'd come around at all, much less this early on. He had a determined look in his glacial blue eyes, though, and she knew why he'd come-what he felt needed to be said. It made him look…stronger, not at all like the kid she'd grown up with who messed up everything he touched. Maybe it was just her. Everything looked, felt, tasted different after her recent revelation. All the lies she'd been feeding herself had been exposed for what they really were. No more of that anymore. Nothing but honesty from here on out.

They stood there in silence for a while, contemplating each other and where they stood. She knew she'd crossed a line- that much was obvious, but what he considered wrong about the other night and what she considered wrong were on opposite sides of the spectrum.

"Look, I'm still mad at you for what happened," he began, his brows slanting as he tried to get off his chest the words that were dragging him down without letting off too much steam. He didn't want to scare her away like he did everyone else, even if they were fighting, "but there are some things that need to be said."

Artemis took him in, the way he was trying to contain himself, the way silent words kept fumbling from his mouth as he carefully picked out all the good, appropriate ones one by one. If there was anything, anything at all, that Cameron Mahkent was, it wasn't careful or self-aware. But Artemis decided to treat him with the same courtesy, biting back her insults at the obviousness of his previous statement and just nodding in response, agreeing. She'd always been told to pick her battles, and this one just didn't make the top ten on her inventory.

"I thought that we were close, you and me, and that we were honest with each other-that we knew everything about the other. Last night- well, let's just say you proved me wrong last night and I'm severely confused as to what _this_," he gestured between the two of them, and suddenly the space between them felt like there were on opposite sides of a canyon, "is. I mean, I kind of kissed you last week," and now things were even more tense and awkward between the two of them. Cameron dropped his gaze and brought an always cold hand up to rub the back of his neck, "and I thought that we were going to be…_together._ And then last night you just about went freaking mental and attacked me-"

Artemis opened her mouth to protest, but a stern look from the boy shut her up quick. _Pick your battles, Artemis, pick your battles_, she chided herself. She gestured with her hand impatiently to carry on and he eyed her warily before continuing.

"_and _to top it all off you purposefully jeopardized the Assignment and betrayed me to do it. You are the one girl, the one person in the entire world that I entrust everything to, even my life, and that I might even take a bullet for, and then you go and get both of us killed."

She cocked her head to the side and peered up at him curiously, lost. What was he going on abo- Oh. Yeah, she'd forgotten about that.

"You don't remember do you?" Cameron asked quietly. She was about to say otherwise when he blew up on her. "Oh my god Artemis! You put me on a freaking hit list and you don't even remember doing it! Shows how important I am in your eyes…" he grumbled, glaring at the dingy Gotham pavement like it was just going to spontaneously crack under his gaze. Artemis was getting pretty fed up with him by now. He came here so they could sort this out like adults and was now acting like an immature, self-centered, little brat.

"Of course I remember idiot!" she hissed, letting her temper get the best of her, "I swore to take up the Assignment and that if we failed they could take away our initiations and take our lives as debt."

A cold silence fell over them. The reality of what she'd just said drifted down upon the two of them like the echoes of a nightmare, jolting them out of their immature banter and into the harsher ray of light. Wow. Of all the things she'd worried about over the past day or so, the most important concern had slipped her mind. The League of Shadows was after her and Cameron, and it was all her fault.

"Oh god," she whispered, her tough demeanor slipping out from under her. She looked up at him suddenly and caught his gaze to find a panic burning there. "What do we do?"

Cameron scoffed at her, his hands running frantically through his frosty hair.

"Hell if I know! _You_ got us into this mess, I thought _you'd_ be the one to get us out."

And before she even knew what was happening words were tumbling out of her mouth like they weren't even hers.

"We could run."

Cameron stared up at her blankly with eyes wide and his hand in his hair paralyzed.

"I'm sorry, but Artemis, my incredibly clever, _not_ stupid friend , has left the building. Could you give me an answer when she comes back? That'd be swell, thanks," he mocked dramatically. Artemis strode over to him and smacked his arm.

"Idiot, I'm being serious! We could do it. We could pack up all our stuff and hightail it out of here, right off into…" she trailed off, thinking of a reasonable destination. "We could get arrested and hide in prison," she offered, her voice coming off way more optimistic than she felt. Which was bleaker, death or spending her life in a cell with another psychotic super villain?

"You're nuts. You are completely, one hundred percent nuts! Prison," he scoffed again, his voice getting higher and higher. "Honestly, the best you could come up with is prison? I think you're forgetting that League members get locked up in their all the time, and could kill us in our sleep! Not to mention the fact that: a) it's _prison_, and b) I look dreadful in orange."

She ignored his lame joke (or at least she hoped it was a joke). Oh. She had forgotten that bit about them going to a super villain prison, not just a regular one. She'd seen it in a really bad movie she'd seen on Sci-Fi, so she'd thought why not. Well, turns out that's why.

"We could still run away Cameron! We could go live with some retired League member-they'd understand! Or maybe if trekked far enough across the globe they'd get tired and decide we weren't worth it! Or maybe we could just live on our own in the forest," she continued, scenarios playing like more bad television in her head. She just let them roll right out her mouth as she pondered them, not bothering to edit herself.

"Like Tarzan?" Cameron added skeptically.

"No moron," she muttered dismissively, rolling her eyes, "and that was a jungle, not a forest."

"Whatever!" he said exasperatedly, throwing down his arms. "The point, Artemis, is that we are royally screwed. Where ever we go, they'll already be there. Whatever we say, they'll already know. Whatever we do, they'll have already anticipated. The League of Shadows is feared by people for one thing: the fact that they are always, always one step ahead of you, no matter what."

"Then we'll be unpredictable!" she reasoned, starting to feel the bleakness of their situation really hit home…literally. She was going to have to leave home; leave her mother. After she'd just promised she'd come home, now she had to run away, just like Jade did. Just like her father did. She didn't even want to think of what her mother would do when she found out. Drastic, drastic things…

"Artemis we're teenagers! We're as predictable as they come," he muttered hopelessly, leading his head fall forward into his hands. He slid his back against the bricks and slid down to the dirty sidewalk, letting his elbows rest on his knees with his head still in his hands. He looked pitiful. Artemis walked over to his side and sat down next to him.

"What're we going to do?" he muttered miserably. Artemis felt bad for him. He had it hard enough as it was, and he could barely handle that. What was he going to become if his life was on the line?

"I don't know," she said somberly. She reached out to take his hand but he jerked away from her immaturely. "I'm sorry I got you wrapped up in my mess," she admitted honestly.

"Is that all you're sorry for?" he asked incredulously, his voice muffled by his limbs.

"Yes. And, okay, maybe I'm a little sorry I punched you."

"Artemis, you betrayed me. I trusted you to carry out our assignment, even trying to take it over when you _malfunctioned_, and you threw it all away one a whim!" he spat at her, his head lifted with his back straight and his blue eyes boring into hers.

"I'm not a freaking computer Cameron; I don't _malfunction_!" she hissed vehemently back, "and do you even care why I did what I did, or you just interested in complaining and pitying yourself?"

Cameron's eyes turned to slits, but she could tell he was waiting for her explanation.

"He was fifteen, Cam," she sighed, looking out into the streets of Gotham, watching blankly as the cars sped by and the lights changed colors. "That could have been either of us last night in his position, there one minute, gone the next, without a clue."

"He was a sidekick pet. They're no different than livestock," Cameron said, a surprising dose of icy hate lacing his words.

"And you're an ignorant juvenile delinquent!" she shouted out of nowhere, suddenly offended. Cameron flinched at the spite in her voice, not expecting that from her either.

"What, are you some kind of hero now?" he asked mockingly. She stood up hastily and held her bag close., not willing to deal with this anymore.

"Cameron," she began seriously, but without the spite she'd previously used, "I'm sorry I put you in danger-I really am-but I did what I did because I felt like it was the right thing to do, which is something that I've never gotten the chance to have occur to me before. I went 'crazy', as you put it, because if a league of grown adults wanted to kill off a mere kid for no obvious reason, than who's say there was ever any reason to them at all? It honestly could have been me they were after, and now it _is_ me they are after, and I'm only fifteen. Fifteen! I realized that I wanted to be in the League of Shadows for all the wrong reasons, and that I was tired of never making my own decisions. So last night I made my very first independent decision, and I saved that kid.

"Cameron, you are either with me or you are with them, and if you're with them you become my enemy. So right now, right this very second, for once in your life _you_, not your dad, not the League, but _you_ are going to make a decision: are we friends, or are we enemies?"

Cameron was taken aback by the force of her question. But…they'd been friends forever. No, they were more than that. He'd kissed her last week for pete's sake! She was everything to him, and now she was asking him to _choose_?

"Cameron, forget what I just said," _oh thank god_, he thought to himself, the body he hadn't even felt tense relaxing. "In the end it boils down to this: do you want me, or your father's approval?"

And that was the end of it. She'd just stuck a knife in his back- just pulled out all the stops and headed straight for home. She knew after all these years that all Cameron Mahkent ever wanted was his father's approval. He wanted to be in the League for all the wrong reasons too, but he wasn't complaining. If he was in the League, his father might have something to be proud of him for. In the end that was all he'd ever wanted, to hear his stoic father utter the words '_proud of you'_. With a hole burned in his heart he realized that this was the second time Artemis Crock had betrayed him, not just in his entire life, but in the expanse of a _week_. A week!

"Artemis, if you're asking me to choose between my family or you, you're more stupid than I'd ever imagined, and you're not a friend at all," he said coldly, feeling the ice starting to build up on his skin absentmindedly. It tended to happen when he got blind sighted by his one and only best friend/maybe-sorta girlfriend.

"Then consider us over-friendship, relationship, partnership. All of it," she said calmly, no spite or hate in her voice, just fact. That made it worse in a way. It made it seem like she didn't feel anything at all about the two of them…er, _breaking up_.

"I guess that makes us enemies then, doesn't it Hero?" he felt cold. Colder than he'd ever felt before. He'd never felt quite this vacant, not when his mother left, not when his father called him useless time and time again, not even when he'd realized he was going to die. _No_, he thought to himself, _this feels ten times worse._

"I guess it does," she whispered before turning around and walking off to well, anywhere really. She had no ideal destination in mind. She just had to get away. Her pace quickened with every step she took until she was running- running anywhere new she'd never been before. Her whole life was changing too fast, but she didn't mind that. She actually welcomed the change. She just couldn't handle the feeling of jetlag this whole metamorphosis thing left behind.

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><p>She decided to stop when the little spurts of dust began to rain down from the ceiling. The people behind the counter seemed to notice too and were eyeing her warily, saying 'you break it, you buy it' with their eyes. She decided it'd be best for everyone if she took a break and she stepped away from the punching bag, swiftly bending down and picking up her towel before slinging it over her shoulder and striding over to the vending machine.<p>

Artemis had been hitting that stupid bag for half an hour straight. She learned in the first minute that nothing beat the real thing. Still, it let her blow off steam and this was her third visit to the gym this week, so obviously it wasn't so bad. At least she kept her fighting intact while she wondered aimlessly around Star City, pondering what to do with her life. The League of Shadows hadn't expressed any interest in her yet as she was still alive and not being hunted down by idiot goons. It made her wonder what had become of Cameron. _No. He's behind you now_, she had to remind herself, suddenly wishing that punching bag was in front of her. She angrily yanked the dollar out from the waistband of her tight yoga capris, which she absolutely despised by the way. They reminded her of forty-year old women who stuffed their small dogs in purses and carried them everywhere they went in their velvet Juicy Couture sweat suits. Yuck. She had to wear them though, because she was staying with her second cousin twice-removed Ashley, and these were the only thing she owned that might fit Artemis while all her own clothes were being washed. Another reason she hated them? Creeps kept giving her cat-calls when they passed her by at the gym, which only put her into more of a punching bag frenzy.

She yanked the dollar so harshly that it ripped in half. She let out a groan of frustration and resisted the urge to throw a spastic tantrum in the middle of a public gym filled with people, just letting her blood boil silently.

"Having some, uh, financial troubles?"

Her long blond clumsily-braided ponytail whipped around to find a guy in his thirties in green basketball shorts and a white t-shirt with the sleeves cut off standing at the Gatorade machine next to her. He had a perfect blonde mustache and matching hair and warm brown eyes. He looked oddly…familiar.

"You could say that," she said, eyeing him suspiciously. Why did he look so familiar? It was really driving her crazy.

"Here," he said, digging into the pocket in his shorts and bringing out his wallet. He handed her a dollar and she eyed it warily. The man laughed at her and shook his hand slightly, gesturing for her to take it.

"Thanks," she said, still suspicious, before taking his dollar and buying herself a water. She tapped her fingers impatiently on her crossed arms while she waited out the two seconds it took for the machine to deliver her beverage. She immediately ducked down to pick it up and practically ripped the cap off, chugging down the water like she'd just survived three days without the stuff in the Bialyan Desert.

She finished drinking with an eighth of the bottle left and wiped her mouth on her forearm, very lady like. Eh. She couldn't bother to be a 'lady' at the moment. None of these people knew her, why did it matter? Not to mention she had more pressing concerns on her mind than behaving socially acceptably in public.

She zoned out of her thoughts and back into reality to find the man laughing at her again. She raised an eyebrow at him. _If only he knew… Wouldn't be laughing so hard then…_

"I saw you at the punching bag. What, did it not by you dinner first? It was pretty impressive, if I say so myself, and believe me, I know a thing about hand-to-hand combat." And then he winked at her. She would have been thoroughly creeped out if any other thirty-year old man had winked at her, but there was something so… utterly _familiar_ (there really wasn't another word for it) about him-it made him seem like an old friend she'd known forever. A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth in response.

"Thanks," she said honestly. It was nice just to be talking to someone. In the past three days she'd only spoken to Ashley-which always seemed to center around her 'amazing' boyfriend- or the guy behind the counter at the gym who rented her out towels and lockers, which was usually just a 'the usual' or a 'thank you'.

"You know, it's a shame to let a gift like that," he began, throwing a thumb over his shoulder towards the punching bag, "go to waste. Are you apart of a martial arts class or something like that?"

"Something like that," she muttered, combing a hand through her hair to pull the wisps that had come loose out of her face. She saw a look of knowing flash in his kind brown eyes and he smiled down at her. Okay, this was nuts. _Where_ did she know this guy from?

"Tell you what, you seem like you're a little lost. I'm part of a little…_organization_, I guess you could call it, and they'd be very interested in you and your talent. If you ever decide you're interested in getting _found_ again, you just call this number and I'll see what I can do."

He reached into his wallet and pulled out a professional business card, holding it out to her between his middle and index fingers. She didn't hesitate to take it from him, immediately intrigued. Her lean fingers brushed against his squared-off ones and she noticed just how calloused they felt. They felt just like hers. But the reason her hands were so rough was from archery… So that's where she knew him from! He must be a fellow archer! Too bad that only narrowed her options a fraction's worth. She looked at the name printed on the card in her hands. _Oliver Queen_ stared up at her in plain old black print. Nope. Didn't ring any bells.

"Thanks," she said again, meaning it more than he could possibly know. Anything that might, just might get her back on some sort of track was to be embraced with open arms. She hated this feeling of purposeless she held within her now. It needed to get lost. A.S.A.P.

"My pleasure," he said with a nice almost fatherly smile before walking off to the locker rooms. _Well Oliver Queen_, she thought to herself, _this girl's already more than ready to get 'found' again._

An idea seemed to spark her thoughts and she scrambled around herself to find where she put her dinosaur of a cell phone. She pulled it out from the waistband of her shorts more carefully than she had the dollar and flipped it open before hitting some numbers and ushering it up to her ear.

"Mom? It's me, Artemis. I think I'm ready to come home," she said with the first genuine grin she'd had in a while lighting her face as she stared at the business card in her hand. Time to go home.

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><p><strong>Hopefully that wasn't so bad. Any suggestions or comments? Awwww come on you know you wanna... ↓<strong>

**This could go on for a while...**

**Okay, I give up :/ You win ;)**


	4. Pyro

**So back to the whole replay scenario, this is basically episode 6 from Artemis' POV. I know, I'm very original ;) But hey, at least there's some...interaction in this one ;)**

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><p>"All the black inside me is slowly seeping from the bone;<p>

Everything I cherish is slowly dying or it's gone."

-Kings of Leon | Pyro

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><p>"I look ridiculous."<p>

"You look fine."

"No, really. I look like Barbie and Robin Hood had a baby."

"What are you trying to say?"

Artemis gave Green Arrow a pointed look, to which he only his smirked and kept looking forward as they walked through the alley ways. Where was this stupid phone booth he kept rambling on about anyway?

"Ah. There," he said, as if answering her thoughts, pointing to a shabby out-of-order glass box in front of them. He gestured for her to go inside it with a swoop of his arm.

"Ladies first," he said. Artemis rolled her eyes but couldn't keep down the small smile on her face. It was really happening. She was actually about to become a hero for once. Who would've thought…

"Yeah, okay," she snorted, "_Uncle Ollie_."

Green Arrow chuckled behind her. She began to take a few tentative steps toward the phone booth. She'd never been zeta-beamed. Was it going to hurt? What if her atoms got rearranged and she wound up with her nose on her foot? She was NOT about to meet the Justice Misfits officially without her nose in the center of her face.

"We don't have all day sweetheart," Green Arrow chided from behind her. She sent him a glare over her shoulder which he seemed thoroughly unaffected by. Her finger tips brushed the cool tarnished metal of the handle and she braced herself. _Just get it over with and quit stalling Artemis_, she scolded herself, taking a deep breath. _You're good at what you do and you've already saved their sorry selves once; their bound to like you. Just… just keep it together._ Then she threw open the door and stepped inside, squeezing her eyes shut and holding her breath, preparing for the worst. For all she knew the thing could malfunction and send her stranded in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, and no one would know where to find her. Great.

"_Not recognized."_

Artemis' eyes flew open at the sound of the computer's voice and she took in a sharp intake of air at the sight in front of her. She was in a completely different place than the cramped confides of that grubby phone booth! _This must be Mount Justice…_ It looked like more of an underground mansion than the inside of a mountain though. Her eyes couldn't possibly take in all the space in front of her. To her left was what looked like a gaming area, with a pool table, some old arcade machine, and something that looked remarkably like a cross between a wrestling ring and Dance Dance Revolution. A little bit to the right of that was what looked like a kitchen, and on the completely opposite side of the mountain were what looked like hallways to different rooms. In the center of it all, however, was a giant clear panel made of something that looked suspiciously like some kind of weird lit-up glass, where two guys were currently duking it out playfully. One was rather short with hair darker than oil and was being held in a head lock by the other, who was unruly in height with steely blue eyes and dressed in jeans, combat boots, and a simple black Superman tee. _They sure look familiar…_

The shorter boy nimbly snuck out of his grip like smoke (though she couldn't figure out how. That one kid looked impossibly strong) and he used the taller kid's shoulders as a foundation to do a sort of back hand spring off of. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't impressed. The kid's black cape glided through the air like a shadow behind him and he landed in a crouched position on the illuminated panel, the light turning his face an intimidating shade of bluish white and illuminating his wicked smirk, before kicking his leg out and sending to taller one sprawling out to the floor.

"_Fail: Superboy."_

That's right! These were two of the Misfits she'd already seen from that night at Gotham Academy! Robin and…Superboy? Green Arrow had tried to fill her in on the 'Team' this past couple of days after she called him up and accepted that, uh, _offer_ of his. Trouble was that he was absolutely horrendous at two things: a) dealing with teenage girls, and b) explaining things.

"And _that_ is why they call me Boy Wonder," Robin said matter-of-factly. Superboy just sat there glowering at him while Robin collapsed in a fit of maniacal laughter.

"Heads up kiddos. You've got company."

Artemis and the boys' heads whipped around to find Green Arrow leaning against the zeta portal, grinning his usual mischievous grin at them. Oh. Yeah. She'd forgotten about him.

Artemis turned back around, rolling her eyes at her _uncle_ (god she really had to get used to saying that) and his dramatics to find the boys staring at her quizzically. Robin had an eyebrow raised at her as if trying to decide what her angle was, while Macho Kid over there looked like he'd just been introduced to a whole new species.

"Ummm…" he began. She wondered if he even knew he was speaking at all in that admittedly gorgeous head of his.

"Hey," Robin said coolly, walking over to her and extending a sleek, gloved hand, "I'm Robin."  
>"So I've heard," she replied, sending a look over her shoulder to her uncle, who held his hands up in surrender and shook his head slightly. She turned her attention back to Boy Wonder here and forced a warm smile to grace her features. "I'm Artemis."<p>

"Omigoshomigoshomigoshomigosh!"

Artemis jumped at the squeal she heard in her head, her eyes darting back and forth across the room. _Um, okay, where did that come from?_ She snuck a glance at Robin to find him grinning wickedly at her. She heard the sound of something cutting through air and suddenly that green girl from the cornfield was standing- no, _floating_ in front of her, clapping her hands and smiling broadly at Artemis, her eyes lit up and her auburn hair dancing across her shoulders.

"Ugh, you have no idea how long I've been praying for you!" she gushed, diving towards Artemis and enveloping her in a quick hug.

"Ummmm..."

"What do you mean M'gann?" Macho Kid asked, scratching at the back of his head with a puzzled look scrunching up his features.

"Artemis here is our newest member!" the girl (did he call her Megan? She hadn't managed to catch that bit) squealed, dropping to the ground just so she could jump up and down. Artemis didn't see them getting along well. She was just so...happy.

"What is going on?"

Artemis turned to find someone walking out from one of the hallways and toward them. Upon closer inspection he had rich dark skin embossed with strange black tattoos, unsettling silver eyes, and buzzed ivory hair. He was definitely a stranger; no familiarity here. Was this the leader Green Arrow had spoken of? What was his name again? Damn.

"Kaldur! Meet our newest member!" Robin said, smiling broadly and gesturing widely at Artemis. The stranger's eyebrows lifted a fraction of an inch in surprise.

"We know it's a little late notice," Green Arrow said, suddenly flinging himself back into the conversation and wrapping his arm around her shoulders, jostling her around a bit, "but Arty here's my little secret weapon and I was tired of her moping around the house all day." Artemis' cheeks flushed bright red out of anger, irritation, and embarrassment. _Arty? __Moping?_

"Well, I can guarantee you it's nothing but interesting around here," Green Girl (Seriously, what did Macho Kid call her? Maggie? Megan? Marcy? Macy? None of those sounded even remotely close. She was screwed.) said sincerely, now more calm, with a warm smile.

"Yeah, especially when Wally's around," Robin snorted. All the Misfits exchanged knowing glances before breaking out into grins. Except for Superteen-boy-man-friend-guy. Artemis was sure all the muscles it took to smile had been removed and used on his arms and shoulders instead.

Artemis' heart skipped a beat at the drop of her Target's name. No, he wasn't her _Target_ anymore; he was her teammate. She had to keep reminding herself that she wasn't a Shadow anymore. Still, through all this haze of mixed name's and new faces, she'd know that name anywhere.

"There's another one of you guys?" she asked anyways, playing along. After coming to Green Arrow they'd both agreed that it would be best if the Team didn't know her past. At least, not for a little while longer, that is.

"She's in for a treat," Macho Kid muttered, making Robin and Green Girl break out in grins.

_"Recognized: Batman- 0-2."_

Everyone's words died on the tip of their tongues, along with their snickers. Artemis had to clench her fists to keep from running off. This was just too weird.

Batman himself strode in from the portal. She'd never gotten a chance to be given an Assignment where she worked with one of the Greats. Now that she was working for the other team she got to meet one within the first week. Interesting...

"Hey Bats," Green Arrow started, grinning broadly. Batman looked at him for a moment before going walking on and not acknowledging him. "Meet my, err, niece-" he emphasized the word. Artemis was well aware however that the entirety of the Justice League was aware of her...predicament. If they hadn't been, Arrow had told her, she wouldn't be on the Team. "Artemis."

"I assume you've made a decision then Artemis," Batman spoke, looking directly at her. Holy crap. Batman was talking to her. She was talking to Batman. Wait- no she wasn't. Why wasn't she replying? _Open your mouth and say something decent Genius!_

"Yes." She had such a way with words. Really- she should go down in the books.

"Very well then."

_"Recognized: Red Tornado- 1-6"__  
><em>  
>The red android entered the room next, no doubt coming back straight out of a mission if the slit tarnish on his metal as any indication, following in Batman's wake.<p>

The two heroes acknowledged each other with a nod before turning to the group. Batman looked like he was about to say something when suddenly a very loud, very wild, very _red_ interruption came bustling into the room, disrupting the peace upon impact.

_"Recognized: Kid Flash- B-0-3."__  
><em>  
>And there that stupid heart of hers went again, skipping erratically at the mere drop of a name. She really needed to get that checked out... She hadn't realized how much she'd been hoping to see him again until the computer announced his arrival and her body went into hyper-drive. The Strange Feeling (still no luck for a better name) had sparked up again, roaring when in his presence, and began gnawing on her insides again.<p>

He appeared in the portal, his silhouette all that was visible of him, illuminated by the bright zeta beam light. He walked out of the portal in a whirlwind, his red hair windblown and his arms loaded with miscellaneous beach objects, not to mention the fact he was shirtless and wearing the most ridiculous swim trunks she'd ever had the misfortune of laying eyes on. Her breath hitched in her throat at the sight of him and for the life of her she couldn't get her breathing to start up again. It was a...relief (_for lack of a better word_, she told herself) to see him alive again after the other night. She prayed nobody noticed her current state and that they were all too engrossed in this Kid Flash to pay any attention to her. _Breathe Artemis! You don't want to turn purple in from of all these Justice Misfits!_

"The Wall-Man is here!" he said, over-enthusiastically she might add. "Now let's get this party star-"

And then he was on the floor, his sandal hooked in the end of an umbrella with a beach ball bouncing away and barely missing her face. Huh.

"...ted."

Artemis could barely snuff out her laughter.

"Wall-Man huh?" she asked in a laugh, her eyebrow raised as she took him in. His outrageous tumble had broken the tension in her and suddenly she was back to normal, as if it had never happened. "Ah, I love the uniform. What exactly are your powers?"

He was standing up now and ruffled his hair a bit in irritation, walking over to the group. Wow. His hair was _really_ red. "Uh, who's this?"

"Artemis," she responded quickly, a hand on her hip, and gesturing with the other, "your new teammate."

"Kid Flash, never heard of you," he said, still a bit on the irritable side. Was that...sunscreen on his nose? She had to bite back laughter. God, she thought they only did that in lame Baywatch-type movies.

"Uh, she's my new prodigy," Green Arrow stepped in helpfully, resting a hand on her shoulder. She cocked her eyebrow matter-of-factly at 'Kid Flash.'

"Wh-whuh-what happened to your old one?" Wall-Man stuttered suddenly more angry than irritated. What 'old one'? She hadn't exactly been the one asking Green Arrow the questions this past week. He was the one who insisted on interrogating her. She barely could get a word in. The man could _talk_...

_"Recognized: Speedy- B-0-6."__  
><em>  
>That computer was getting old fast. Suddenly yet another redhead was entering the room, this one taller and definitely more attractive than the last, dressed in red. he looked older too. That Strange Feeling she'd been having? Yeah, it died out as soon as Wall-Man over there opened his mouth. Speaking of which, Kid Klutz was now glaring at her as 'Speedy' entered, and she was suddenly taken aback. What had she ever done to him? You know, besides <em>saving his ungrateful life!<em>

"Well, for starters, he doesn't go by 'Speedy' anymore. Call me Red Arrow," the older redheaded hero in red said a bit harshly.

So he was attractive and demanding? _Just my type_, she thought with a grin, sizing him up. She caught one of Kid Klutz's glares while she was at it. Wow. His eyes were just as rich as his hair. They were the exact color of her new suit too, and just as vivid. And they were filled with spite.

So she glared right back.

She'd given up everything for this kid! _Everything_! The chance at reuniting her family? Gone. Her best friend/boyfriend? Gone. Her admittance into the League of Shadows, one of the most prestigious villainous gangs? Gone. She'd even turned good for this kid! Well, not exactly for him directly, but that was beside the point. Her whole life had been turned upside down because she'd let go of that one arrow, trying to save him. And he had the audacity to go around glaring daggers at her for no good reason besides he was man-pms-ing? No. She wouldn't have it.

"Roy," her 'uncle' said, surprised, taking a step forward and removing his hand from her shoulder. It left a cold absence in its wake. "You look..." he trailed off ever so slightly, looking for the right word.

"Replaceable," Speed- er, Red Arrow said venomously, stepping forward.

"It's not like that. You told me you were going solo," Green Arrow reasoned.

"So why waste time finding a sub?" the slightly above-average attractive ginger spat back. She was about to zone out of the argument- if she wasn't in it, it wasn't worth her time, even if hot guys were involved- when suddenly he drew her into it. "Can she even use that bow?"

Her dad was right. Heroes _were_ arrogant little babies. First, Kid Klutz is sending her hate mail with his eyes, and now _this_ moron is talking about her like she's wasn't even there? No. Just- no.

"Yes," she said calmly, getting in his face and crossing her arms indignantly, "she can."

"Who ARE you?" Kid Klutz yelled exasperatedly, throwing out his arms melodramatically. She didn't skip a beat.

"I'm his niece."

"She's my niece."

The two 'relatives' said at the same time, seeming to lack interest in whatever _Wall-Man_ had to say.

"Another niece?" Robin asked with a small amused laugh. He sounded slightly suspicious. But he couldn't know. Not yet at least- she'd only known the kid for maybe twenty minutes! Right? Oh geez.

"But not your replacement," Kaldur said, taking a small step forward. "We have always wanted you on the team-" another step "and we have no quota on archers," he reasoned.

Kid Klutz's glares at her dissipated and he turned his attention to Red Arrow, his coldness gone in an instant and replaced with a friendly, knowing grin.

"Yeah, and if we did, you know who we'd pick," said suggestively, an eyebrow raised.

Irritation flared up inside the female archer, burning biting words into the back of her mouth. She held back the satisfying taste of the words on the tip of her tongue, though, which was a huge testament to her self-control. _It's your first day Artemis- no need to come off as the bad-guy just yet,_ she thought ironically. She put on a tight, bitter grin instead.

"Whatever Baywatch," she sneered. "I'm here to stay." She was beginning to doubt whether that last statement was a good thing or not.

That shut him up.

She stayed quiet for a bit and zoned out of the conversation, bored. She'd been stupid to think that she'd just get to come barging into the Justice Misfits' lives and it be all happy-happy-joy-joy. Nothing was ever that simple when it came to Artemis Crock. Ever.

_Ugh. I wish that arrow had hit him in the back of the head. We'd all be better off, that's for sure_. But Artemis had said last week she was done lying to herself, and no part of her found any truth in that last statement. She didn't regret saving Kid Ungrateful. Not at all. And that sucked more than he did.

"...League of Shadows..."

That snapped her out of her thoughts like yelling 'bomb' in an airport. Her head whipped up just in time to catch Speedy Arrow (or whatever his name was; she could care less at this point)'s last line. She and Green Arrow met gazes, panic searing from her stormy eyes.

"Whoa," Robin started, jaw dropped, "you want us to rescue her from the Shadows?"

"Hardcore," Kid Klutz practically squealed like a fan girl, bumping fists with Robin. Artemis rolled her eyes. Dolt. This wasn't a joking matter. At all. She could be dead by the end of the night! Not that he'd care. He probably wouldn't miss her at all. Now that she really thought about it... Besides her mom, who would miss her if she really were..._gone?_

"I already rescued her," Red Arrow grumbled before stalking off to the front of the group, he knew how to be dramatic, that's for sure. Then he started rambling about the circumstances they were in and she lost interest, bored. She'd already heard of this Nano-crap anyways. Her father had been in secret meetings all month to discuss the creation of them, and he'd bothered to drag her along.

"Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power-broking- yeah, sounds like the shadows," she said, counting off on her fingers boredly and rolling her eyes. Behind her someone scoffed. _I wonder who it is_, she thought sarcastically. She turned around, her eyebrow raised in challenge.

"Like you know anything about the Shadows," Kid Klutz boasted, already predictably thinking he knew all there was to know about her. She almost collapsed in a fit of laughter right there in the middle of the floor, surrounded by her, uh..._teammates_. Instead she opted for a smug grin and sent him a look that said 'you might want to rethink that last thing'.

He got the message.

"WHO ARE YOU?" he bellowed. This girl was driving him crazy. And she knew it too.

Speedy-Arrow continued, ignoring the two of them. _Yeah, yeah, we get it. A science nerd got kidnapped and you saved her. Now get to the POINT._

Some harsh words were exchanged between Red Arrow and her 'uncle' before the guy finally left in a huff. As the zeta-beam updated his name-change and teleported him off to who-knows-who-cares-where, Baywatch sent her one last piercing green glare before he huffed and puffed all the way to his room on the other side of the mountain to change into his uniform. Her eyes remained locked on him until his figure blurred into the shadows.

"I'm M'gann by the way," a voice said from her left. Artemis turned, surprised, to find Green Girl standing next to her, leaning towards her sheepishly on her toes with her hands behind her back. "You can call me Megan though; everybody does. I just thought I'd come over since I realized I never got to properly introduce myself."

"Well at least some people bother with proper introductions," Artemis muttered under her breath. M'gann caught on and laughed.

"I promise he's usually not that bad. I think he just really wanted Spee- er, I mean Red Arrow to stick around, is all. You could have been an eight foot tall amazon with flowing dark hair and he would've acted the exact same way," she said with a kind softness to her voice. Artemis snorted.

"For some reason I highly doubt that," she said. M'gann considered it for a moment.

"You're probably right," she said, and then the two shared a look and erupted in laughter before walking off in the direction the boys had gone, Artemis' ponytail swishing at her waist.

"And what was up with those god-awful swim trunks of his?"

"Oh sweet Mars, don't even get me started."

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><p><strong>soooooo...what'ya think? ;) I cannot even tell you how many times I had to replay all their little banter through youtube to type all that^ : but it made me realize how much I love them in that episode :D the chapters might get a little more spread apart as far as updates are concerned because my five day vacay from school ends tonight :( I'm severely depressed**


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